Basement Excavations, Fit Outs And Renovations

When you have chosen a contractor for your basement conversion, they usually have a preferred Architect that they refer to make best use of the space below your house or commercial property. The Architect and contractor should also take you through the design. This will include any concerns regarding party wall agreements, conservation, structural design, temp works design and the necessary planning stages required to complete your basement construction project.   

  Once you have these in place, you are ready to start your project. At Essex and London Construction, we ensure the site safety and security of your home or business, by hoarding the relevant sections of the property undergoing the basement conversion. This also allows our building team to display the relevant statutory documents for your basement conversion, such as an F10 HSE project notification form and safety information pertaining to the project if relevant. 

   A typical basement excavation at Essex and London Construction will feature digging, which our builders commence by firstly forming the front light well. Our construction company then break through to the main body of the house. On average, the full footprint of a Victorian terrace house would be roughly 70m2. At ELC, the basement excavation dig-out would take approximately 2-3 months. This would consist of forming light wells to the rear as well as the front of the property. 

Once the foundations are excavated by Essex and London Construction, the spoil is taken from site via skips or grabs. These are filled by our basement builders using a conveyor, that comes out the top of the hoarding from inside the basement. Once the basement is fully dug by our builders, we put stems, slabbing and drainage in place.   

Our team then come to the waterproofing stage. The water proof system  our construction team supply, create a cavity drainage membrane made of a polymer plastic. The basement structure is then wrapped in this material, with a slightly thicker membrane placed on the floor, so water that runs down the wall can then run along channels in the floor.    

The basement excavation floor channels then feed into 4 inch drain pipes, placed in the slab before our builders pour cement. Drainage then runs into sumps, pumping any water in the soil around the building out into the main drainage system. There are two types of pumps used when creating basements for occupation, ground water and foul water pumps.

The first stage of the fit out element  is applying the floor insulation and a damp proof membrane (DPM). The DPM, underfloor heating, wall linings, plumbing and electrics are then enclosed in fire proofed plasterboard ceilings and walls. Light wells are rendered and the rooms are decorated. On a a 70m2 basement fit out, in addition to the 2-3 months excavation, Clients should expect furnishing to take a further 3 months to complete. 

Once basement excavation and fit out works have completed and Essex and London Construction have obtained electrical, gas, fire system and air conditioning commissioning certificates, work can then be signed off by a Building Control Inspector. You will then receive all paper work in the form of a health and safety file and operations and maintenance manual, for your newly formed and fitted out basement conversion.   

On achieving practical completion, you are now ready to occupy your new basement space. These are great areas for living accommodation for teenagers or elderly relatives who want their own separate living accommodation. Basements are also great to use as laundry areas, cinema rooms, storage spaces or business workshops. Whatever you decide to do with your space, Essex and London Construction are here to help.